Magazine for firearms



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o. F. VAN HORN EI'AL MAGAZINE FOR FIRE-ARMS Filed March 18, 1941 Feb. 16, 1943.

Feb. 16, 1943. o, F, VAN HORN E 2,311,497

MAGAZINE FOR FIRE-ARMS Filed March 18, 1941 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 16, 1943 STATES FATE.

MAGAZINE FOR FIREARMS Application March 18, 1941, Serial No. 383,892

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a magazine unit for fire-arms and refers more particularly to a container for cartridges which is adapted to be attached to a fire-arm and which supplies cartridges automatically, one after the other, to the firing chamber of the fire-arm.

This magazine unit is particularly adapted for use in connection with pistols and rifles which may be converted by a selector mechanism into continuously shooting guns discharging bullets automatically, one after the other, while the shooter holds the trigger in a depressed position.

These fire-arms may also be used for the usual intermittent shooting in the course of which the trigger must be pulled and released once for each shot.

These and similar rifles and pistols are usually provided with fire-arm magazines or cartridge clips which are adapted to contain a limited number of cartridges, usually seven, and which are inserted into the hollow handle of a pistol or are attached to the casing of a rifle.

While this small supply of cartridges often sufiices for intermittent shooting, the fire-arm must be supplied automatically with a much larger number of cartridges if it is to fulfill the purpose of a machine gun during continuous firing.

An object of the present invention is to provide a magazine unit containing a large number of cartridges, say, twenty-five, thirty or forty cartridges, and having means automatically supplying these cartridges, one after the other, to the chamber of a fire-arm.

Another object is the provision of a magazine for cartridges which is comparatively small in size and light in weight and which is provided with a simple, sturdy and efiectively operating means withdrawing the cartridges automatically one after the other from the magazine and sup plying them to the chamber of an automatically firing fire-arm.

A further object is to combine the cartridge clip of pistols and rifles which contains a small number of cartridges, with a cartridge magazine holding a much larger number of cartridges, and cooperating with the cartridge clip in such manner that the cartridges may be supplied in a continuous flow from the cartridge magazine into the cartridge clip and thence into the chamber of the fire-arm.

Yet another object is the provision of a magazine unit including a cartridge magazine and a cartridge clip, and provided with two separate spring-actuated cartridge-releasing devices operating automatically, one after the other, to

withdraw cartridges from the magazine and the clip and to supply them successively to the chamber of the fire-arm.

Other objects will become apparent in the course of the following specification.

In accomplishing the above and other objects of the present invention, it was found advisable to provide a magazine unit including a cartridge magazine having a spring-actuated cylinder or drum situated within a casing and carrying cartridge-supporting elements upon its periphery.

A cartridge clip of the type having a follower actuated by a spring, is connected with the casing of the cartridge magazine. The drum is provided with an inner casing or pocket which is situated opposite the cartridge clip in the unloaded position of the drum and which receives the spring of the cartridge clip.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings showing, by way of example, a preferred embodiment of the inventive idea.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of a pistol with a magazinue unit attached thereto in the firing position.

Figure 2 shows the magazine unit with a cover removed, in side elevation, partly in section.

Figure 3 is a section along the line 33 of Figure 2. I

Figure 4 shows the magazine unit in side elevation, partly in section, in the position in which the last cartridges are being unloaded from the cartridge magazine.

Figure.5 is partly a front view and partly a section along the line 5-5 of Figure 4.

The magazine unit shown in the drawings includes a cartridge magazine 20 connected with the firm-arm magazine or cartridge clip 2|.

The cartridge clip 21 is provided with a spring 62 (Fig. 4) actuating a follower 15 having a cartridge-supporting surface 16.

In order to attach the loaded magazine unit to a fire-arm, the cartridge clip 2| is inserted into the hollow handle 30 of a pistol 3 l shown in Figure 1 and is held therein by the usual magazine catch 33.

The cartridge clip 2| has a lower end 23 situated within a casing 36 of the cartridge magazine 20. The clip end 23 is enclosed by and firmly connected with a flange 25 of the casing 36.

The casing 36 of the cartridge magazine 20 carries a shaft 31 which has a threaded end portion 39 projecting out of the casing 36 and carryme a knob 40.

A coil spring 45 surrounds the shaft 31. One end of the spring 45 is firmly connected to the shaft 37, while its opposite end is attached by a screw 4! to a drum or cylinder 49.

The drum or cartridge carrier d3 consists of a disc 5a which is connected with an outer rim 52 and an inner sleeve ie and which is mounted upon the shaft 3?.

The rim 52 carries radially extending projections 53 which are cut out of the rim and which are used for supporting the cartridges El. The projection 53 may be moved through a suitable opening provided in the inner end 23 of the cartridge clip 2i.

The drum 38 includes a transverse inner casing or pocket 86 which is open only at its upper end.

The casing 88 contains the spring 62 and the.

follower 75 when the magazine unit is loaded.

The cartridge magazine is loaded by inserting cartridges one by one into the upper open end of the cartridge clip 2!, while the drum Ali! is turned slowly by means of the knob 4i! from the positon shown in Figure 4 to the position shown in Figure 2, thereby winding the spring 45. During the rotation of the drum :39, the spring 62 in the casing 88 presses the follower l5 and a cartridge 5'! carried thereby against an inner annular surface of the casing 38. The inner end 23 of the cartridge clip 2| engages the casing 88, thereby stopping the drum id, when it has reached the positon shown in Figure 2. Then the loading operation is completed.

A already stated, the loaded magazine unit is inserted into the pistol 3! in the manner indicated in Figure 1. The cartridges are supplied one after the other from the upper end of the fire-arm magazine 2! to the chamber of the pistol by the reciprocation of the slide of the fire-arm in the usual manner which is not illustrated.

When a cartridge is removed from the upper end of the cartridge clip 2!, the spring A5 will turn the drum ii} in the direction of the arrow llil, (Fig. 2). A cartridge situated within the casing 36 close to the cartridge clip 2! will be raised into the cartridge clip 2! by the pressure of a projection 53 directed toward the clip 2|.

This upward movement of a cartridge from the cartridge magazine 2%! into the lower endof the cartridge clip 2!, wil1 shift upwardly all the cartridges situated within the cartridge clip 2 I, so that the uppermost cartridge will be placed within the path of movement of the fire-arm slide. The cartridges serve as bearings turning about their axes while the drum 49 is being rotated.

The upward movement of the cartridges from the casing 36 to the cartridge clip 2!, caused by the unwinding of the spring 45 and the resulting rotation of the drum 49, is terminated when the casing 86 strikes the inner end 23 of the cartridge clip '21 and is brought into the position illustrated in Figure 4. At that time, the follower ac tuated by the spring 52 is situated directly below the clip end 23, so that the pressure of spring 62 will be transmitted directly through the follower 15 and't'he cartridge carried by the surface 16 of the follower, to all the cartridges situated one over the other in the cartridge clip 2 l Thereafter, the upward movement of the cartridges in the cartridge clip 2| during firing is caused by the follower 15 actuated by its spring 62. This upward movement continues until the last cartridge carried by the surface T0 of the follower 75, is moved to the upper end of the cartridge clip 2| and is ready to be supplied to the chamber of the firearm. After the firing of that cartridge it is replaced by the follower which is now situated in its uppermost position, while the spring 62 occupies substantially all of the interior of the cartridge clip 2!.

At the beginning of the reloading operation, the cartridges are inserted one after the other into the cartridge clip 2! through its open upper end; they push downward the follower l5 and compress the spring 62 until the entire cartridge clip 2! is filled with cartridges and the follower T5 is pushed into the casing 80. Then the cartridge magazine is loaded by rotating the drum @9.

It is apparent that the specific illustrations shown above have been given by Way of illustration and not by way of limitation and that the structures above described are subject to wide variation and modification without departing from the scope or intent of the invention, all of which variations and modifications are to be included within the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

A magazine unit for cartridges, comprising in combination with a cartridge clip having a casing, a movable follower, and a spring engaging said follower for moving the same; a cartridge magazine comprising a casing having an interior communicating with the interior of the casing of the cartridge clip, a shaft carried by the casing of the cartridge magazine and having an end projecting outside of that casing, a knob carried by said end, a drum carried by said shaft within the casing of the cartridge magazine and having a plurality of outwardly bent tongues forming radial cartridge-supporting projections, a coiled spring surrounding said shaft and having one end connected with said shaft and another end connected with said drum, said drum having a sleeve enclosing said coiled spring, said coiled spring being wound when said drum is turned from an unloaded position to a loaded position, said projections supplying cartridges successively toward the casing of the cartridge clip when the drum is turned by the unwinding of said coiled spring from said loaded position to said unloaded position, and an elongated inner casing carried by said drum and having an interior communicating with the interior of the cartridge clip in the unloaded position of the drum, the longitudinal axis of said inner casing forming an acute angle with the extension of the longitudinal axis of the clip-casing in said unloaded position, said inner casing containing said follower and said follower-actuating spring during the rotation of said drum and releasing said follower and said spring when said drum is in the unloaded position to enable said follower-actuating spring to move said follower into the casing of the cartridge clip.

OERTEL F. VAN HORN.

KENNETH W. KINNEY.

FRANCIS W. McGLOI-IN. 

